Margaret Thatcher
Working hard may not make you rich, but it should make you successful.Collection: Successful
Reagan did not suffer from the dismal plague of doubts which has assailed so many politicians in our times and which has rendered them incapable of clear decisions.Collection: Decision
What happened in Russia in 1917 wasn't a revolution - it was a coup d'etat.Collection: Russia
In the Conservative Party we have no truck with outmoded Marxist doctrine about class warfare. For us it is not who you are, who your family is or where you come from that matters, but what you are and what you can do for your country that counts.Collection: Country
Ronald Reagan knew his own mind. He had firm principles - and, I believe, right ones. He expounded them clearly, he acted upon them decisively.Collection: Believe
As prime minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all our lives. We talked regularly both before and after his presidency. And I have had time and cause to reflect on what made him a great president.Collection: Eight
People from my sort of background needed Grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.Collection: Children
Consensus negates leadership.Collection: Consensus
I was asked whether I was trying to restore Victorian values. I said straight out I was. And I am.Collection: Trying
Consensus is the absence of leadership.Collection: Absence
In my lifetime all our problems have come from mainland Europe and all the solutions have come from the English-speaking nations across the world.Collection: Europe
Advisers advise, and ministers decide.Collection: Ministers
Home is where you come to when you've got nothing better to do.Collection: Home
I suppose I was about 20, and a crowd of us had been to a village hop and came back to make midnight cups of coffee. I was in the kitchen helping to dish up and having a fierce argument with one of the boys in the crowd when someone else interrupted to say: 'Of course Margaret, you will go into politics won't you?' I stopped dead. Suddenly it was crystalised for me. I knew.Collection: Coffee
There is no such thing as society, there is a living tapestry of men and women and the beauty of that tapestry, and the quality of our lives, will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and to turn round and help, by our own efforts, those who are unfortunate. There's no such thing as entitlement unless someone has first met an obligationCollection: Responsibility
If I were a German today, I would be proud, proud but also worried. I would be proud of the magnificent achievement of rebuilding my country, entrenching democracy and assuming the undoubtedly preponderant position in Europe. But a united Germany can't and won't subordinate its national interests in economic or in foreign policy to those of the Community indefinitely. Germany's new pre-eminence is a fact - and its power is a problem - as much for Germans as for the rest of Europe.Collection: Country
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my … chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world. Me? A Cold War warrior? … Well, yes — if that is how they wish to interpret my defense of values of freedoms fundamental to our way of life.Collection: War
I love his music because he was my generation. But then again, Elvis is everyone's generation, and he always will be.Collection: Generations
I'm back... and you knew I was coming. On my way here I passed a cinema with the sign 'The Mummy Returns'.Collection: Way
The European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially, though the timing, occasion and full consequences are all necessarily still unclear.Collection: Timing
It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become Prime MinisterCollection: Years
There is a nonsense about intelligent women not being beautiful.Collection: Beautiful
I don't think there will be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime.Collection: Thinking
Whether manufactured by black, white, brown or yellow hands, a widget remains a widget – and it will be bought anywhere if the price and quality are right. The market is a more powerful and more reliable liberating force than government can ever be.Collection: Powerful
During my lifetime most of the problems the world has faced have come, in one fashion or another, from mainland Europe and the solution from outside it.Collection: Inspirational
How very popular to say, 'spend more on this, expend more on that.' And of course, we all have our favorite causes; I know I do. But someone has to add up the figures. Every business has to do it, every housewife has to do it, [and] every government should do it.Collection: Government
Personal virtue is no substitute for political hard-headedness.Collection: Political
The Third World is very much like the First World - just poorer: what works for the West will work for the rest as well.Collection: West
How thin is the crust of order over the fires of human appetite and the lust for naked power.Collection: Power
I am not a compromiser on fundamentals.Collection: Fundamentals
We are not in politics to ignore peoples' worries, we are in politics to deal with them.Collection: Worry
Forget that I'm a woman. Forget the accusations that I am a Right Winger demanding privilege - I had precious little privilege in my early years.Collection: Years
You don't win by just being against things, you only win by being for things and making your message perfectly clear.Collection: Winning
Marxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.Collection: Up Early
Communism produces neither dignity nor prosperity. It takes all power away from the people and places it in the hands of a self-appointed elite. And because it distorts and manipulates the distinctive talents of individuals rather than letting those talents flourish, it prevents progress and prosperity.Collection: Self
Everything a politician promises at election time has to be paid for either by higher taxation or by borrowing.Collection: Promise
My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.Collection: Mean
The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.Collection: Vigilance
Socialists don't like ordinary people choosing, for they might not choose Socialism.Collection: People
Each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can't take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew.Collection: Inspirational
The real case against socialism is not its economic inefficiency, though on all sides there is evidence of that. Much more fundamental is its basic immorality.Collection: Real
A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure.Collection: Men
Good Conservatives always pay their bills. And on time. Not like the Socialists who run up other people's bills.Collection: Running
In my work, you get used to criticisms. Of course you do, because there are a lot of people trying to get you down, but I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. That is why my father always taught me: never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it.Collection: Cheer
What? What am I 'bound to be feeling?' People don’t think anymore. They feel. 'How are you feeling? No, I don’t feel comfortable. I’m sorry, we as a group we’re feeling….' One of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and ideas. That interests me. Ask me what I’m thinking.Collection: Sorry
Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited.Collection: Titles
You do not achieve anything without trouble, ever.Collection: Trouble
We want a society in which we are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. That is what we mean by a moral society - not a society in which the State is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the State.Collection: Mistake
Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.Collection: People